INDIAN AMERICAN convenience store owner at Simpsonville, South Carolina, the US has been arrested for tax evasion, said the South Carolina Department of Revenue.
Chirag Jayanti Patel, 49, owned the store that sold the $1.5 billion winning Mega Millions ticket in October 2018.
According to revenue officials, Patel, who operates KCP Inc, doing business as KC Mart, was charged with five counts of tax evasion.
He under-reported his taxable sales each year from 2013 through 2017, according to arrest warrants.
Reports said that Patel failed to report a total of $2,044,737 in sales. In doing so he evaded $123,044 in Sales Tax.
If convicted, he may face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and/or a fine of $10,000 per count, plus the cost of prosecution.
According to officials, he is being held in the Greenville County Detention Center pending a bond hearing.
After he sold the winning lottery ticket in 2018, Patel said he would split the $50,000 he received among his four employees.
